(Tuesday, Sept. 29) After breakfast, we hopped in a taxi that Hotel Fita had arranged to take us to the Amsterdam train station on the beginning of our return to our first stop on the trip, London. Thousands of bicycles (how does anyone find theirs?) were stacked up at the station when we arrived just before 9:30 a.m.
As luck would have it, our train to Brussels (where we’d transfer to the Eurostar to London) left on a platform not served by an elevator or escalator. Great. Lug one heavy bag up one flight of stairs, pause and breathe, lug the other heavy bag up to meet it, pause and breathe, lug the first bag up the final flight, pause and breathe, and haul its partner up to the top of the platform.
Although trains on this line had been running late during the Winter, our train arrived and departed on time. The First Class coach we rode in was largely empty at Amsterdam, but got quite full as we headed south towards Brussels.
We passed fields with cows and sheep grazing, then cities with tall buildings, then countryside farms, then industrial parks, then more cities, than more farms. We hit Rotterdam, but passed through a long tunnel and didn’t see its large commercial port.
After a couple of hours on the train our stomachs, filled at an early morning breakfast, were growling, and we bought a “Suikerwafle” (sugar waffle) from the snack cart to tide us over until we got to Brussels. After failing to find a working locker to stow our luggage in that city’s station, we drug our bags behind us to the “WC”, then wolfed down a quick sandwich before checking in for our Eurostar trip.
Just before 3 pm Continental Time, the Eurostar train pulled out of the Brussels-Midi station and headed for Lille, France, a half hour away. The clouds that had persisted from Amsterdam south gave way to sunshine and shortly after leaving Lille we were offered a three-course (1960’s airline style) lunch as the train hit its stride, probably traveling close to 200 MPH.
At around 3:00 pm we reached Calais (where we’d stopped briefly on our 2006 Paris-London Eurostar trip) and entered the “Chunnel” that connects France to England. Twenty-three minutes after diving beneath the waves of the English Channel, we came up for air and continued on to London.
Although the skies over southern England were much cloudier than those canopying France, it was quite sunny and warm when the train reached London just before 4 pm local time. A short cab ride later we were back to where our trip had begun, The Sumner Hotel near Marble Arch, a couple of blocks from London’s Hype Park. On our past three stays, we’ve been in Room 109 at the top of the hotel, but this time we’re in 203, which has some pluses (Internet connection works in the room) and some minuses (guests on the floor above clomping about in their heavy boots).
After eating at least half of the cows and pigs, and a couple of sheep or two, that used to graze in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, and the Alsace, we decided that Italian food sounded really good, so we had pasta for dinner at one of the eleven “Spaghetti House” restaurants in the London area which is open a block and a half from our hotel. Although it’s a chain eatery, the food was quite good, and we got a big kick out of our Portuguese waitress who was obviously new to working at this restaurant.
It’s now a little after 10 pm London time (11 pm, in Europe), so we’re calling it a day for today. Tomorrow over breakfast we’ll decide how to spend our last day of vacation¸ and hopefully quit early, return to the hotel, pack up for our return flight home, and enjoy a last evening without cooking or dishwashing before flying home to reality.
